Texas arresting people in bars for being drunk

[bishop]

Quote by: Milton Bradley Well, with thinhs like this coming to pass, it should only be short time until drinkers are as dienchanted with our government as we smokers are. Welcome to the club boys.

eh... that's a bit of a generalization..

both my girlfriend and i are smokers - and both of us support the smoking ban in our state. (i also supported it in nyc when i lived in jersey.)

[pubmanager]

Quote by: G. Adams Good, I can rest easy in the knowledge that I owe into the tens of thousands to the police force. I have and will always serve drunk people as long as they are friendly, can stand and can speak fairly clearly.

LOL


good shout.

I've always thought it a suberb irony that it's an offence to serve my best customers

My local police station have their christmas do's, leaving do's etc at my bar, every time they come in I make the same gag that I can't serve them any more as they are intoxicated and every time I am met with the response "give me a drink you cheeky bastard or I'll have your bloody license."

[Chris the Chees]

Well, what can I say? I drank my self sick last night, then carried on drinking and I am planning the next night of drunken fun already!

I was always under the impression that a 'bar' was private property. Thus quite how is getting drunk in a bar infringe the law of public drunkeness?

[Milton Bradley]

Quote by: bishop eh... that's a bit of a generalization.. both my girlfriend and i are smokers - and both of us support the smoking ban in our state. (i also supported it in nyc when i lived in jersey.)

Forgive the misspellings, but I see you made out the message anyway.


I was actually talking about the marijuanna smokers, but, yea, we'll take the cigarette smokers on our team as well.


From what I ahve been able to observe, this looks like the first step toqrds making drinking illegal, or at least unmanagable for most drinkers to do without planning the equivilent of an invasion, and occupation of a foreign land.


Logical consequences. If this is step one, what might a step a few paces dowm the road look like?

[Arawn-ap-Hywel]

Quote by: Milton Bradley From what I ahve been able to observe, this looks like the first step toqrds making drinking illegal, or at least unmanagable for most drinkers to do without planning the equivilent of an invasion, and occupation of a foreign land. Logical consequences. If this is step one, what might a step a few paces dowm the road look like?

Milton Bradley you forsee the return of Prohibition. So sad, and for us over the pond US drinkers have always been so "lightweight" with the over 21 rule and raucous rowdy behavior frowned upon. This would make the US a very sober and boring nation. But think how much the price of copper would go up for all those "Stills"

[Milton Bradley]

Quote by: Arawn-ap-Hywel Milton Bradley you forsee the return of Prohibition. So sad, and for us over the pond US drinkers have always been so "lightweight" with the over 21 rule and raucous rowdy behavior frowned upon. This would make the US a very sober and boring nation. But think how much the price of copper would go up for all those "Stills"

I don't know that they would go as far as to make it illegal at this point, but perhaps soon. Many of the same arguements that crippled the tobacco industry here can be made against alchohol as well. Particularly the additional cost of health care. I will go as far as to predict a long term trend in this direction.


I do think political correctness has spiraled out of control, and this is what we are seeing here. The police are probably only attempting to pacify those lodging the complaints.


Who knows, maybe they're just conditioning the public to the realities of living under the Fouth Reich in the new Police State.


Zer vill be no more blurring of ze lines on law enforcement. You vill comply!

[tman_ndsu08]

Quote by: Chris the Chees I was always under the impression that a 'bar' was private property. Thus quite how is getting drunk in a bar infringe the law of public drunkeness?

Hey, hey, hey, hey. I was drunk in a bar! They threw me into public!

[Mia]

Quote by: Isherwood Is this the same Texas we're discussing that until fairly recently allowed open containers in a vehicle as long as the driver wasn't drinking? Man, what brought on this change in attitude? Boy George better be careful when he moves back home. No more of the wild, old days. :)

That changed a long time ago. I actually worked for a telemarketing company as a teenageer that had MADD as a client. It was our job to raise funds to change this law. They've been cracking down on DUI for my whole adult life in Texas, though nothing close to what Maricopa County in AZ is like. These guys are after anyone whose had a couple of drinks. But gang-bangers and meth dealers have no fear!!! Weird :rolleyes:

[Chris the Chees]

Quote by: tman_ndsu08 Hey, hey, hey, hey. I was drunk in a bar! They threw me into public!

Then surely they should be arrested when they leave the bar, not inside it.

Not to mention I can (and have) enter a bar at 8pm, have a few pints in the space of an hour, putting me well over the drink driving limit, and then drink soft drinks for a further 7 hours. At this point, when I leave I will not be intoxicated or over the driving limit.

[Arawn-ap-Hywel]

Milton Bradley
"Who knows, maybe they're just conditioning the public to the realities of living under the Fouth Reich in the new Police State.
Zer vill be no more blurring of ze lines on law enforcement. You vill comply!"

How perceptive of you, though it is most likely that this can only occur if voter apathy continues amongst those who party and have little care for society. Thus the party animals need shipping to the polls so the US doesn't move any further along with their laws of intolerance and public control.

[Milton Bradley]

Quote by: Arawn-ap-Hywel Milton Bradley "Who knows, maybe they're just conditioning the public to the realities of living under the Fouth Reich in the new Police State. Zer vill be no more blurring of ze lines on law enforcement. You vill comply!" How perceptive of you, though it is most likely that this can only occur if voter apathy continues amongst those who party and have little care for society. Thus the party animals need shipping to the polls so the US doesn't move any further along with their laws of intolerance and public control.

Why thank you.


I agree completely, and I wish we could get that message out to the people that need to hear it.


The ingorant masses who do not participat could potentially elect the next President if they only knew the power they possess.

[Arawn-ap-Hywel]

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - A controversial Texas programme to send undercover agents into bars to arrest drunks has been halted after a firestorm of protest from the public.

The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission has "temporarily suspended" what it called "Operation Last Call" even though it still believes it was worthwhile, commission spokeswoman Carolyn Beck said on Thursday.

"We understand that everything has room for improvement, this included," she said.

She said most of those arrested in the sting operations had been "dangerously drunk" and might have tried to drive if TABC agents had not busted them.

The TABC has launched an internal investigation of Operation Last Call and a Texas Legislature committee will hold hearings on the programme on Monday.

The TABC announced the programme in late August but it received little attention at the time.

But recent media reports that drunks were being arrested in bars provoked both ridicule and anger around the world and, perhaps more importantly, complaints from hotels, restaurants and bars in Texas who said it could hurt business.

The programme drew support from groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

The Houston Chronicle found that 1,740 people across the state had been arrested for public intoxication in Operation Last Call.

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/news...archived=False

[Osborn F Enready]

Another reason to dislike Texas.

[Milton Bradley]

Quote by: Arawn-ap-Hywel The Houston Chronicle found that 1,740 people across the state had been arrested for public intoxication in Operation Last Call.]

Well, there are 1740 people who might consider abandoning the two party system. Perhaps they'll bring a friend.


I know in my personal experience, people who get screwed by the courts are usually much more willing to listen to us radical Libertarians then they were before the trangression occured.


Somehow living the nightmare leaves a lasting impression that our predictions resonate with.

[5010]

I live near Dallas and the local radio news was reporting people in hotel bars were getting arrested even though they were registered with rooms upstairs from the bar.

We also have a law against a passenger drinking alcohol in a car. In fact, I got pulled over once and the cop said he could arrest me if he wanted because there was a 6-pack in the back seat inside a brown bag with a beer can that had fallen out of the plastic strap thing. He said it was considered an "open container".

In my town, it is illegal to sell alcohol from a store to be drunk at home, but it is legal to sell alcohol at restaurants to be drunk there. It promotes public drinking. If it weren't for other cities that are "wet", you would *only* be able to drink publicly. Since there is no public transportation, it also increases the chance of drunks driving.

Why are there always a bunch of speed traps at 10am on the interstate when there is very little traffic and few wrecks, but when I'm trying to get somewhere at 2am there are drunk driven vehicles weaving all over the lanes with no cops to catch them?